Ironic? Yes. Shocking? Sadly, No

Intrepid Dog Blogger Paul Dechene already made note of this story, but clearly, it needs a rant. As the Globe And Mail reported early this morning, federal Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear is refusing to state whether or not he believes in evolution--saying only "I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't believe anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate."

Sigh. The Cons recent cuts to funding scientific research across the country--and just as insidiously, their absolutely insane tactic of directing the funding that's left by demanding that it go to science projects that will "benefit business"--doesn't seem all that shocking now, if it ever did.

The simple fact is evangelicals--which, like his leash-master Stephen Harper, Gary Goodyear is--are pretty much universally opposed to unfettered freedom in terms of scientific research. And really, who can blame them? For centuries, science has been coming up with nasty little facts that bump up hard against religion--the earth is round, maybe you shouldn't have burned all those "witches" after all, and hey--it looks like those dinosaurs were really old!

Which, of course, brings us back to evolution, the scariest fact of all for evangelicals (and fundamentalists of all religious leanings, it should be noted).

Simply put, evolution is a fact--and it's a fact that's wiped out, among thousands of others, evangelical beliefs like the 6,000-year-old earth (hello, Stockwell Day), the Adam and Eve origin story, and, in recent years, the idea the HIV/AIDS is a plague from god to rid the world of homosexual sinners--or, for that matter, that homosexuals simply "choose to be gay."

But back to Gary.

Again under the "hardly shocking" category, Goodyear has been endorsed by "Vote Marriage Canada"--who are against same sex marriage, of course--along with numerous other evangelical groups, including Charles McVety's Focus on the Family Canada. I wonder if they're happy that the big G is in charge of the country's science portfolio?

I'm sure they are--but the rest of us should be absolutely outraged.

In the midst of the biggest recession we've seen in my lifetime, at least, our Conservative government is abandoning any hope of maintaining Canada's position as a leader in scientific research--at the very time a U.S. president is (finally) placing an emphasis on it in that country. If you didn't think that was enough to drive the best and the brightest from this country--ladies and gentlemen, we present to you our creationist minister of Science and Technology. How long before the Big Valley Creation Science Museum in Alberta becomes the centre of government-funded research in this country?

Clearly, Gary Goodyear has absolutely no business in this portfolio, and should be removed from his position post-haste--and if Ignatieff's Liberals have a shred of backbone, they won't stop screeching about that until it happens. I'm not holding my breath on that--but I am maintaining a tiny shred of hope that Canadians across the country will vent enough outrage to make it happen.

Ah, well--it's not all bad. At least we can finally stop feeling bad for the Americans and their eight-year slide into ignorance and fundamentalism--because now, they feel bad for us! Who saw that coming back in the Dubya days?